close
close

Apre-salomemanzo

Breaking: Beyond Headlines!

“Waste Reduction Week” Begins in Lexington
aecifo

“Waste Reduction Week” Begins in Lexington

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – As Waste Reduction Week takes place this week in Lexington, officials are encouraging people to find ways to reduce the amount of waste they produce.

The phrase “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” has become a common way to encourage others to be aware of our waste footprint. But when it comes to actual execution, things can be complicated.

“Recycling can be overwhelming. Even people who work for the city are overwhelmed by it sometimes,” said Halsten Higgins, information manager for LFUCG Environmental Services.

The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet reports that recycling in the United States is a $236 billion-a-year industry, but recycling practices and recyclable materials can actually vary from city to city. the other.

“Recycling is local and what we can recycle depends on what machines we actually have at the recycling center. Higgins explained. “We can’t process every type of plastic, we can’t process every type of material, that’s why it’s important to know what you can recycle here in Lexington.”

Just because an item has a recycling symbol does not mean it is recyclable. The recyclable materials collected are sorted by employees of the recycling center, but certain non-recyclable elements can enter and contaminate the flow.

“It’s important to recycle well,” says Higgins. “Because the cleaner our recycling stream is and the less contaminated it is, the easier it is for us to package it and sell it to people who would turn it into something else.”

The city has a comprehensive list of recyclable items on his website. Nothing containing moisture or food residue cannot be processed.

“We do not accept plastic bags. Keep your waste in bulk in the blue cart. We have human employees processing all of this on the line, and when items are hidden in bags, they may be sharp objects. It could be needles and we don’t want to expose them to anything dangerous,” Higgins said.

While there are many steps to recycling correctly, sometimes taking a step back from the process can have a greater impact.

“While recycling is good, we also want to focus on reducing and reusing. Reducing what you consume and reusing what you already own are more effective strategies for protecting the environment,” Higgins said.

As part of Lexington Waste Reduction Week, the city is offering scheduled tours of the recycling center on Tuesday and Friday. You can register online for a visit on the city’s website.